Klaus Hargreeves

QUARTER ONE LOG

Content Warnings: Number one: Clowns and clown-related themes, violence, sharp objects, psychological influences.

This log is public so that it can be used for Testdrivers. Feel free to make locked posts within the comm for dicier threads, and remember you can always use the After Dark comm if you want to play out anything especially violent or sexy. It is impossible to be killed again during the Circus portion of this event, though you may still be susceptible outside of the Garden.

All pre-existing Heaven and Hell areas are accessible during this log, and remember: all psychological effects are optional.

PART ONE: THE BIG TOP
Pushing the Garden Floor on the elevator opens its doors directly to the inside of an incomprehensibly massive set of connected circus tents. It always seems the walls of the tents are in view, but the more you look around the more impossibly large it seems, and you may never quite seem to get to the tent's walls— if you do, though, you'll find they're impossible to pass through.

But why would you want to leave The Cirque Du Existance (sponsored by Jam's Club)? It's outfitted with acts and outfits from universes all over— you'll find performances resembling those from your own worlds and worlds you've never imagined. Poi dance, Lion dancing, trapeze and balancing acts, jugglers of all kinds, animal tamers, animal performers who were human in life, tightrope walkers, ribbon dancers, fliers, magic shows— anything you can think of probably has a spot in one of the circus rings.

When you enter you'll be decked out in clown or other performer outfits yourselves (or even new animalistic forms!), whether those outfits draw inspiration from your own worlds or from others. Some may just find themselves instantly in their outfits, but others may get the star treatment as Cherubs fawn while tailoring and make-up. And while you might not exactly feel compelled to stay, you will be haunted by a sense of regret the longer you avoid participating. Cosmic FOMO is so real. Sure, you can watch the acts for a while to get rid of it, but the Cherubs are really insistent that you'll feel better if you play along!

And the thing is, you will feel better. Successfully completing an act will give you a rush of warm, euphoric sensation... and the Cherubs insist you can play and perform here as much as you'd like.

ACT ONE: TEARS OF A CLOWN

You've been made up and dressed up and now you're a part of the circus! But your costumes might have an effect on how you interact with the setting. Clown makeup is an important part of the act, after all! Despite what you may be used to feeling, your clown makeup and costumes might change things in strange ways!

In fact, all costumes make you impervious to a certain amount of violence. Get smashed by a hammer? You might just crumple like an accordion and spin stars for a moment! Get your head cut off? Better grab it before it floats away and screw it back on! Your bodynow works on clown and cartoon logic, and nothing in the circus can kill you. And what's worse? Whether or not you get rid of the effects of your makeup, your costume will always make you want to participate.

Happy Painted clowns may simply experience being happier than usual, or may go as far as bounciness bordering on mania. They may feel compelled to be tricky and play jokes, or may seem to be sweeter and more playful than usual. In pair acts, they'll likely be the instigator of gags rather than the responder.

Sad Painted Clowns by contrast can simply be sadder than usual or can go as far as being manically sad, unable to stop sobbing. They'll find themselves to be hte butt of jokes more often, but won't feel any less invited to participate— even if they might feel a bit "eeyore" about it all.

Angry Painted Clowns might not actually feel rage, but definitely feel like pranking. They want to use their hammers and other pranking tools on others as often as possible, to cause trouble andmake thecrowds laugh. Where is that canned laughter coming from, anyway...?

and of course, other expressions could influence them, too...

Other Costume pieces may also have an effect; new tails might cause animalistic behaviors, certain colors may inspire moods; it's all up to you!

How can you free your friends of this annoying influence? Just take them back to the dressing room and wash their faces with the provided Makeup Removing Towels! Being relieved of their masks might not get them to want to leave the circus, but it will cause them a deep sense of relief.

ACT TWO: IXION'S WHEEL

One special act you can participate in involves, well, trust. You'll be led to a giant, slow-turning wheel surrounded by bright golden flames— and yeah, you guessed it.

One of you's gonna be strapped to that thing.

Put out in front of the crowd of Heavensent from the world attached to this afterlife, you'll be paired up and assigned to one of two roles:

Target and Thrower.

The Thrower will be outfitted with whatever they'd like; axes, knives, scissors, all sorts of sharp, throwable objects. Even if they normally wouldn't mind throwing things at their victim, holding these objects fills them with the undeniable feeling of weight. These weapons aren't too heavy to throw, but somehow they feel dense and weighted. Their job is to throw these objects at the Target with the intent to impress the crowd, which makes the assumed goal not to hit the Target, but the spaces on the wheel around their body.

However...

The Target will be strapped to the wheel, spread out with their limbs in an X and anytails or wings strapped down appropriately as well. They will be compelled to jeer at and tempt the Thrower, hoping to actually be struck by the thrower's weapons. They may even be convinced that the Thrower will have to confess to something painful if the Target is hit, and should feel the desire to make themselves as annoying and hittable as possible.

but if that weapon strikes them, it'll dig into their body without any real physical injury. Instead, the weaponwill temporarily sever a cosmic tie of repression— and if struck enough, it's the Target that will break down and admit to a doubt, insecurity, hidden emotion, or some kind of other emotional release.

Step right up, cos it's your chance to make someone cry. The Target won't be able to be freed from the wheel after being struck until they give in to that emotion and release it, after which the sharp weapon will finally fall from their body, leaving them unharmed.

It seems the angels watching are all supportive of these emotional releases, however. They clap every time, like they're watching their favorite telenovelas.

You might get signed up for this performance more than once, and even if you remember what happened the time before, the influence of the wheel is too strong. Once you're strapped in, you want this.

Good luck!

ACT THREE: CHERUBIM FUNHOUSE

If you stumble past the hall of mirrors in the tent, you'll find yourself steadily shrinking— oh boy, suddenly, you're the size of a Cherubim or Imp! Whether that means you're borrower-style or chibi-style is up to you, but either way, you'll find yourself in a giant obstacle course (sized for people at least twice your side!) where you've got to work together to rise from hell straight to the top!

Much like a platformer, you'll have to scramble up nets, bounce up trampolines and spring-toys, swim through ball pits, climb on larger-than-life tables, chairs, & other furniture, and all sorts of other activities to get to the top! However, if you fall into the pitfalls of self-doubt, spiteful competition, or other negative influences, you may literally trigger trap doors to slides that send you spiraling back down to the bottom— or even just throw you down!

Luckily, hitting the bottom of the obstacle course won't hurt anything but your pride. Once you reach the pearly gates at the top, though, you'll be rewarded with your normal stature and shape returning and a certificate of completion!

What, you thought you'd get more than that? You've learned and grown! That's reward enough!

ACT FOUR: POPCORN PLAYTIME

Of course, no circus is complete without fun fair food, right? You can find anykind of festival food you might dream of here, or evensome you wouldn't dream of; comically large snacks, comically small snacks, cartoonishly sweet deco parfaits, hot dogs— all kinds of things! Share them with your friends, and most of them actually aren't tainted with some sort of magic spell this time.

Most of them.

Among the snack stalls is a popcorn stand that smells absolute heavenly. Popcorn from this stall smells and tastes so good, you'll want to tell everyone about it!

In fact, you'll want to tell the first person you see something so much, you might actually confess something to them instead! But it's not just atruth you might confess; instead, it could be the first silly thought that comes to mind, something that used to embarrass you when you were younger, or something that secretly makes you happy but you might be embarrassed to admit.

There's also the chance it won't make you confess anything at all; instead, it might make you feel peppy and playful! You'll want to invite someone to play a game with you or to star in another act— but if you don't eat enough popcorn beforehand, you might feel your interest flagging long before your performance is over.


ACT FIVE: ANYTHING GOES

It's a circus in Heaven! If you can dream it, you can do it. Utilize this fun fair in any way you'd like, for whatever performance or clown-related shenanigans you'd like to achieve.

OOC NOTES
Here's your quarterly log! Updates might appear in the following months.

There is no restriction on what Carnival style (circus macabre, kidcore, whatever) counts as clowncore here. You can do whatever subset of clownery you'd like or avoid a clown aesthetic by modelling after other types of circus performers. There is no restriction on what kind of animalistic clown traits someone might adopt, or whether or not they can swap back and forth between a humanoid and fully animalistic form. Just go crazy.
There are also no restrictions on what kind of performances can come up. If it exists as some kind of celebration, go for it.